The invention relates to a communication network in the connection mode, which comprises at least network equipment and user stations, said network equipment having assignment means for assigning at least one connection identifier to a user station in response to a request for a connection from said user station.
The invention also relates to network equipment intended to be used in such a network and an assignment method of assigning a connection identifier intended to be used in such network equipment.
The invention has important applications, notably in the field of cable television distribution networks, for example, in the networks in conformity with the standards DAVIC or IEEE802.14.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,525 describes an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) communication network which comprises at least a network unit in charge of assigning identifiers VPI/VCI (Virtual Path Identifier and Virtual Channel Identifier) to each user who requests the set up of a connection. The assigned identifiers are chosen from a list of available identifiers.
The problem posed is that the number of identifiers that can be assigned is restricted. When no identifier is available any longer, it is no longer possible to set up a connection. The invention notably has for its object to remedy this drawback.
For this purpose, a network and equipment according to the invention and as described in the opening paragraph are characterized in that said assignment means comprise re-assignment means for re-assigning the connection identifier of the stations that have not used the network for a certain period of time, which are called inactive stations.
Similarly, an assignment method according to the invention of assigning at least one connection identifier to a user station of a communication network in the connection mode in response to a request for a connection from said station is characterized, in that it includes a re-assignment option of re-assigning the connection identifier of the stations that have not used the network for a certain period of time, which are called inactive stations.
The invention makes use of the fact that statistically, in the case of a cable television network, only 30% of the user stations that are connected to the network transmit data simultaneously.